84 Group Workshop Fusing Fabric

Morning – 2D and relief

  • Basic mark-making on layered fabrics
  • Basic cutting and fusing and making seams
  • Adding marks and peeling off layers
  • Distressing
  • Cutting, backing, cutting again, backing and fusing
  • Slashing and twisting, cutting and folding

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Afternoon – Going 3D

  • Raising shapes with felt rolls
  • Making a template for a vessel
  • Cutting and joining a vessel
  • Adding a base to the vessel

Essential tools and materials required:

  • A soldering Iron - available from Bunnings starting at under $17 for the most basic one
  • Stand for your soldering iron (a terracotta plant pot will do)
  • A little steel wool (aka wire wool) in a toilet roll middle
  • Something flat and heatproof to cut on - eg a glass chopping board or a ceramic tile
  • A metal ruler
  • Tweezers
  • Synthetic organza in 3 or more colours about 2m of each (currently half price at textile traders). Can be plain or patterned or both.
  • Acrylic felt in any colour(s) – black is good, about 1.5m (currently 20% off at textile traders)
  • Thick synthetic interfacing, maybe be called craft weight or pelmet weight. It’s like thin cardboard in weight. Available at Ocean Keys Sewing Centre for those up north.
  • A couple of sheets of A3 size cartridge paper for making a mock up vessel
  • Cardboard from a box about A3 size for a template
  • Scissors, craft knife, cutting mat, cellotape, pencil

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Optional tools and materials:

  • STRONGLY RECOMMENDED – A respirator mask, available in Bunnings
  • A heat gun
  • Glass, metal, ceramic, wooden or cardboard templates and shapes (eg stencils, scrapbook chipboards, MDF mosaic boards, cookie cutters, gears and bits from the man shed)
  • Glass or ceramic bowls or glasses in various sizes for round templates
  • Scraps of organza, acrylic felt or any other synthetic fabric
  • Coloured/dyed/painted/printed Lutradur.
  • Patterns or motifs sewn onto layered felt and organza with COTTON thread.